Meghan Markle has revealed why she cut off contact with her father Thomas, suggesting she was already aware of ‘distressing’ claims against him that have made global headlines today.
Thomas Markle Snr, 82, is reportedly under investigation over child abuse images said to have been found at his home in the Philippines.
He and the Duchess of Sussex, 45, have been estranged since her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.
Thomas Markle Snr’s shameless bid to stage paparazzi photos in the run-up to the big day and endless stream of TV interviews appeared to be the reason for the split.
But after today’s disturbing allegations emerged, Meghan explained in an extraordinary statement today that ‘any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them’.
She said the Met Police had previously ‘assured’ her that allegations about her father made in a 2018 letter were being investigated.
It is understood the letter was sent to Meghan in the summer of that year, after her wedding to Harry.
The claim appears to cast a new light on their nearly decade-long estrangement.
Meghan's statement in full
‘I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.
‘In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me.
‘It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.
‘I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.
‘I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.
‘Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.’
Here, Metro looks at how Meghan’s relationship with her father has played out in the public eye over the years.
2018
Before her wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan described her relationship with her father as ‘close-knit’.
The Duchess is Markle Snr’s only child from his second marriage to Doria Ragland. They divorced when Meghan was six.
Although she lived with her mother in Los Angeles, Meghan also spent a great deal of time with her father, a former TV lighting director.
Meghan wrote how her father invested ‘blood, sweat and tears’ so she could pursue her ‘grand dream’ of becoming an actress.
Markle Snr said he was keen on being ‘part of history’ by walking his daughter down the aisle at the royal wedding.
But he missed the ceremony after being admitted to hospital following a heart attack.
Both Meghan and Harry were said to be deeply concerned for his welfare.
Markle Snr had become embroiled in controversy after staging paparazzi photographs of himself in the run-up to the event at Windsor Castle.
The day after the pictures made headlines he dropped out of the wedding, saying he did not want to ‘embarrass the royal family or his daughter’.
The relationship appeared to break down shortly after the wedding, with Markle Snr giving several interviews appealing to her to get in contact.
2020
In the lead up to Meghan’s legal case over a newspaper article featuring parts of a handwritten letter to her father, Markle Snr described the breakdown as ‘ridiculous’.
Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain what he would say to Meghan, he told the programme: ‘I’d say: “I love you”, and: “Let’s sit down and work this out.” She was the closest thing to me for years and years and years, until she went off to college and even then.
‘This is ridiculous. We should get together.’
Asked about the possibility of meeting Meghan and Harry at court as part of the legal action, he said: ‘If it comes to meeting them in a courtroom, that’s great. At least I’d finally get to see them.’
On his efforts to contact his daughter, he added: ‘For me, there is no other way to reach them. I pretty much will give an interview and wait for 30 days for some kind of answer back.
‘If I don’t get one back then I’ll try another interview.’
Dismissing criticism of his media tactics, he said: ‘I would tell them to try being in my position for a while and see what it’s like – have a family member ghost you and not speak to you, and see how you feel.
‘It’s something that stays with you 24/7 every day, and it never goes away. It’s always on your mind. You wake up with it. You go to sleep with it. It’s very hard to deal with.’
On the eve of the court case, text messages from Harry and Meghan to Markle Snr were revealed.
Court documents showed the couple warned him days before their wedding that speaking to the press would ‘backfire’ and offering to help him.
2021
In interviews in early 2021, Markle Snr said he ‘hopes someday I get to see my grandchildren’ after Meghan and Harry announced they were expecting Lilibet.
He added he was ‘available any time’ to see them and Archie.
Speaking again on Good Morning Britain, he said he speaks to the press because ‘I’ve never heard back from Meghan or Harry in any way, shape or form’.
He added: ‘When they decide to talk to me, I’ll stop talking to the press.’
2022
But the following year, Markle Snr sided with his older daughter Samantha Markle as part of a defamation case stemming from the Sussexes’ Oprah Winfrey interview.
Meghan’s half-sister said it subjected her to ‘humiliation, shame and hatred on a worldwide scale’.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Markle Snr said: ‘I’ve been trying for almost four years to get to see my daughter and her ginger husband in a courtroom face to face.
‘I haven’t seen my grandchildren. I’d be thrilled to come to court and talk and defend my oldest daughter.’
In another interview with GB News in April, he said he was planning to fly over to the UK for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee two months later.
After repeating his hopes of meeting his grandchildren, he added: ‘I would like to meet with Prince Charles and thank him for walking my daughter down the aisle, and also to meet and talk with him because I think we have a lot in common now.
‘We’ve pretty much both been ghosted by our children.’
Months later, Meghan opened up about ‘losing’ her father.
Speaking about the impact of the Sussexes’ decision to step down as senior royals, Meghan told The Cut: ‘Harry said to me, “I lost my dad in this process”.
‘It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision.’
Journalist Allison P. Davis asked Meghan if there was room for forgiveness between her, the royal family and her own family.
Meghan said: ‘I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive.
‘But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything.’
In their Netflix series which aired at the end of the year, Meghan said she found out her father would not be attending her wedding ‘through a tabloid’.
She said: ‘The week before our wedding we get a call from our joint communications secretary who said this story is going to come out tomorrow saying your father has been staging pictures and taking money from the press. That was the first I was hearing of it.’
Meghan explained she had a conversation with her father in which she said he denied the allegations but refused to be flown to the UK a day early for the wedding.
The duchess said: ‘It felt really cagey. I said “it doesn’t make sense”. And when we hung up I looked at H (Harry), I was like “I don’t know why but I don’t believe him”.’
She added: ‘Paps and journalists immediately were following him all day, every day. The unravelling happened that week when he wouldn’t pick up my call, and instead you’re talking to TMZ and I’m finding out that you’re not coming to our wedding through a tabloid?’
In the episode, the duchess said they attempted to call her father more than 20 times to understand what was happening but that he never came back to them.
She said that finally they received a text which said: ‘I’ve done nothing to hurt you Meghan or anyone else. I know nothing about 20 phone calls I’m sorry my heart attack is any inconvenience for you.’
Meghan explained that she did not believe it was really her father as it was the ‘opposite’ of how he would typically text and that he had never addressed her as Meghan in her life.
Addressing the strained relationship in the episode, Harry said: ‘Of course it is incredibly sad what happened. She had a father before this and now she doesn’t have a father.
‘And I shouldered that because if Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad.’
In another episode, Meghan said her ‘entire centre was rocked to its core’ after being confronted by a woman during a royal walkabout over her perceived treatment of her father.
2025
After having his left leg amputated in the Philippines, Markle Snr said he did not want to die estranged from his daughter.
A spokesperson for the duchess confirmed she had ‘reached out to her father’.
Mr Markle told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I’ve always said I am open to reconciling with my daughter. I have never stopped loving her.
‘I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too.’
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